Case presentation: In May 2015, a 20 year old first-time mother at 36 weeks gestation was seen in a district health clinic in Kuching, Sarawak in regards to her ability to breastfeed. She had a history of a flame burn at the age of 5 years old to her chest, abdomen, upper limb and part of her trunk. A skin graft was done on her whole chest and abdomen. Despite the injuries, she had pubertal and antenatal breast development. Her abdomen was able to stretch to accommodate her pregnancy. Physical examination showed a pregnancy which corresponded to date. The skin over her chest and abdomen appeared tight with areas of hyperpigmentation and hypopigmentation due to scarring from the skin graft. Breast tissues were palpable over her chest. The areola and nipple tissue were completely absent with complete scarring of the nipple-areolar complex. There was no duct opening to the areola for milk expression or leakage. Counselling regarding her breastfeeding issues was done. She delivered her baby at full term via spontaneous vaginal delivery with no complication. Oral cabergoline 1 mg was given on the first day postpartum. The baby was given infant formula via bottle feeding as the feeding method of choice.
Conclusion: Counselling plays an important part in the management of a mother with breastfeeding difficulty. Allaying the possible guilty feelings of not being able to breastfeed will fulfil the emotional gap which may arise in a mother with these challenges.
Material and methods: A 3-year-old intact male domestic shorthair cat weighing 3.7 kg was referred to the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan Veterinary Clinic with clinical signs of hematuria and dysuria. History revealed that it was managed outdoor, fed with kibbles and wet food, but with no vaccination and deworming. Upon physical examination, the cat had a dull appearance, pale mucous membrane, normal respiratory rate, hypothermia, and bradycardia. Upon the examination of the urogenital system, there were urine burns at the anal region, necrotized penile tip, and presence of bite wound observed at the perineal region. Turgid and enlarged urinary bladder was identified upon palpation.
Results: Diagnostic investigation revealed the hemotropic mycoplasmosis via microscopy, while urine culture was positive for Escherichia coli infection. The cat was successfully treated symptomatically.
Conclusion: However, the prognosis of this cat was guarded given that the anemia was unresolved at the point of discharge.
METHODS: A retrospective review of burn cases in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia from 2010 to 2015 was conducted. Cases of major burns among pediatric patients grafted using the Meek technique were examined.
RESULTS: Twelve patients were grafted using the Meek technique. Ten (91.7%) patients were male, whereas 2 (8.3%) were female. The average age of patients was 6 years (range, 2-11 years). The average total body surface area was 35.4% (range, 15%-75%). Most burn mechanisms were due to flame injury (66.7%) as compared with scalds injury (16.7%) and chemical injury (16.7%). There was no mortality. All patients were completely grafted with a good donor site scar. The average graft take rate was 82.3%, although 8 cases had positive tissue cultures from the Meek-grafted areas. The average follow-up duration was 3.6 years (range, 1.1-6.7 years). Only 1 case developed contracture over minor joint.
CONCLUSIONS: The Meek technique is useful when there is a paucity of donor site in the pediatric group. The graft take is good, contracture formation is low, and this technique is cost-effective.
Methods: BMuc were subjected to 10 d of induction factors to investigate the potential of cells to differentiate into corneal lineages.
Results: Corneal stem cell markers β1-integrin, C/EBPδ, ABCG2, p63, and CK3 were upregulated in the gene expression analysis in induced BMuc, whereas CK3 and p63 showed significant protein expression in induced BMuc compared to the uninduced cells. BMuc were then left to reach 80% confluency after differential trypsinization. The cells were harvested and cultivated on a commercially available untreated air-dried amniotic membrane (AM) in a Transwell system in induction medium. The corneal constructs were fabricated and then implanted into damaged rat corneas for up to 8 weeks. A significant improvement was detected in the treatment group at 8 weeks post-implantation, as revealed by slit lamp biomicroscopy analysis. The structure and thickness of the corneal layer were also analyzed using histological staining and time-domain optical coherence tomography scans and were found to resemble a native corneal layer. The protein expression for CK3 and p63 were continuously detected throughout the corneal epithelial layer in the corneal construct.
Conclusions: In conclusion, human BMuc can be induced to express a corneal epithelial-like phenotype. The addition of BMuc improves corneal clarity, prevents vascularization, increases corneal thickness and stromal alignment, and appears to have no adverse effect on the host after implantation.